Have a merry Christmas–or if that’s not your chosen holiday, please enjoy the seasonal celebration of your choice.

posted 23 December 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

As promised, the last set of Burning Man photos. Closing out the year, appropriately enough, is the Temple–which burns the day after the more-famous Man, and is for many people, a more intense, thoughtful experience. The surfaces of the temple are covered with memorials to the recently dead; when it all goes up in flames, […]

posted 19 December 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

Another year goes by, and Philip Seymour Hoffman keeps kicking ass and being the best thing in whatever movie he appears in. Right now, you can check him out in either Synedoche, New York or Doubt (I’ve seen the former, not the latter, but they both seem to be unwieldy first-time directorial efforts from well-regarded […]

posted 15 December 2008 in Archives, Articles. no comments yet

Some months ago, I promised that if I posted any more Burning Man photos, they’d be as counterprogramming to the Christmas season. So whether you find this to be an antidote to commercialism or cold weather, here’s today’s moment from the desert.

posted 12 December 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

We begin with Jody Watley in backlit silhouette, running her hands through her hair, making sure it’s still there. She will go on to do more hair-fondling than anybody in this countdown (except maybe Cher). This video is a performance clip, featuring Watley shimmying around a black-and-white op-art set. To spend more of the record […]

posted 10 December 2008 in 1988. 4 comments

I actually wrote two different pieces about last month’s Van Morrison concert, which was an interesting exercise. I was trying to repeat myself as little as possible–but make sure that each dispatch made sense. (It helped that the Rolling Stone website wanted a newsier angle, while the paper magazine asked for a critical review.) I […]

posted 8 December 2008 in Reviews. no comments yet

This week’s flipwalk takes us two-thirds of the way through the whole project (see here for details if you don’t know what I’m talking about). The teaser image (blown up a bit for your viewing pleasure): The whole picture, plus the story of how I got there, awaits you here.

posted 5 December 2008 in Photos. no comments yet

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the storied Troubadour nightclub in Hollywood to see the latest installment of “In the Attic,” the series of acoustic showcases starring Pete Townshend (on his days off from the Who’s world tour) and organized by his girlfriend Rachel Fuller. I interviewed the two of them (plus Zooey Deschanel […]

posted 1 December 2008 in Articles, Outside. 2 comments